Pokémon Diamond and Pearl
Happiness FAQ
Copyright Raymond Rui Wang, 2007
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Table of Contents
(1.) Introduction
(2.) What is Happiness?
(3.) Pokémon and Moves Affected by Happiness
(4.) The Pursuit of Happiness
(5.) How to Effectively Lose Happiness
(6.) Items that Affect Happiness
(7.) Myths of Happiness
(8.) Frequently Asked Questions
(9.) Version History
(10.) Contact
(11.) Legal
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(1.) Introduction
You might recognize me as Rui993 on the boards from before. Yeah, I'm not too
good with numbers so, whatever. This is my first FAQ, written more out of
annoyance than out of a wanting to help, truth be told. I was getting more and
more bothered by the constant questions on happiness appearing up and flooding
the boards like crazy, so I decided to just make a topic that told everyone
exactly how simple happiness was, but I realized that it wouldn't last. So,
without further ado, here it is, the simple ways to raise or decrease
happiness. Really, it's not too difficult, and it's a cinch to master once
you understand the basics.
For your safety and comfort, hit Ctrl-F to search for a specific topic. For
example, if you wanted to search for the introduction, you would type in (1.)
to find the Introduction (which, if you currently have trouble finding, you
need a FAQ on that more importantly that one of happiness.)
(2.) What is Happiness?
Happiness is, in Layman's terms, the quality or state of being felicitous.
Okay, seriously, Happiness was a factor decided in Pokémon GSC, and has
remained till now. Basically, it's a little gauge encoded into your Pokémon,
and changes with your decisions and what you do it. Quite a few amount of
things affect happiness, and happiness, in return, affects quite a bit of
things as well. Certain Pokémon can evolve by gaining a certain amount of
happiness, and two certain moves increase in strength when your Pokémon hates
you or loves you, respectively. Read on to find out more.
(3.) Pokémon and Moves Affected by Happiness
Exactly thirteen Pokémon as of now evolve by Happiness, and there are fourteen
outcomes (Eevee evolves differently depending on what time of day you're
playing.) These Pokémon are, in order of the more complete Sinnoh Dex:
- Pichu into Pikachu
- Cleffa into Clefairy
- Igglybuff into Jigglypuff
- Golbat into Crobat
- Chansey into Blissey
- Eevee into Espeon/Umbreon (Daytime/Nighttime)
- Munchlax into Snorlax
- Togepi into Togetic
- Azurill into Marill
- Budew into Roselia (Daytime only)
- Chingling into Chimecho (Nighttime only)
- Buneary into Lopunny
- Riolu into Lucario (Daytime only)
There are two moves that affect happiness: Frustration and Return (TM21 and
TM27.) These two moves are Normal-type, and their power is determined solely
by your Pokémon's happiness. Simply put, if your Pokémon hates you,
Frustration will deal a heck of a lot of damage, and so will Return, if your
Pokémon loves you. When the max amount of happiness or unhappiness is reached,
Return/Frustration will deal a base damage of 104, becoming one of the
strongest moves in the game (unfortunately, they're Normal-type.) If you have
one on a Pokémon, don't put the other on. If your Pokémon loves you, don't
bother giving it Frustration, and vice-versa. If you're using one of the above
fourteen Pokémon, definitely give it Return, unless you traded for it and
abused it like crazy, in which case you should give it Frustration.
(4.) The Pursuit of Happiness
There are currently eight/nine extremely effective ways to make your Pokémon
love you.
1) Pokémon like to be used in battle. Meaning, use them in battle, level them
up, etc. This is essentially the most basic and easiest way, but if you're
trying to evolve a Pokémon earlier to learn certain moves, keep reading.
2) Also with battling, there are special drinks at the top floor of the
Veilstone Department store. Lemonade's only 350, the priciest, and the best.
Healing up Pokémon with these special drinks are the way to go.
Note: Moo Moo Milk may affect this, but it is a mystery for now. Can anyone
confirm this? Kudos to TBIRallySport for bringing this question up.
Renote: Tested on Moo Moo Milk. Moo Moo Milk gives it about the same amount of
happiness as Lemonade, although I prefer Lemonade since it's cheaper. I assume
the high price on the Milk is due to its healing rate.
3) Poffins. I'm sure you heard of this before. They're mostly for raising
stats in the Visual part of Super Contests, but they have a second use. Go to
the second page of your Pokémon screen. It tells you what kind of poffin they
relish: it could be sweet, bitter, whatever (it should be noted that if your
Pokémon "eats anything", it will get the same happiness from every berry as if
it didn't like it--just because it eats everything doesn't mean it likes
everything.) Now look in your Berry pouch, and hit "Check Tag" (not literally,
assuming that there are people that actually do that on these boards--it
wouldn't be surprising) on a Berry. Now you go into a pentagon-like screen,
with a scheme set up so you can see just how much each berry levels up a stat.
The farther it goes in a certain corner, the more flavorful it is (and the
more points it gives for SC). When you know what kind of berry you want to use,
go to Hearthome City. There is a house near (below, in the birds-eye view) the
Pokémon Center, with a sign in front of it. You can enter, and talk to a
woman inside to enter a minigame format to "cook" poffins with your stylus
(or finger, whichever you prefer). You can do this with up to 3 friends, and
granted your friend(s) is/are capable of following instructions, they will
generally come out better with more people. But after you get the hang of it,
you can do it yourself fine as well. After you're done (take my advice: don't
use any poffins that are below lv. 10,) you can feed it to your Pokémon via
the Poffin Case in the Key Items section (you can get a poffin case from the
Pokémon Fan Club to the right of the building, if you didn't get it earlier).
A Pokémon has a gauge called "Sheen". That Sheen grows a star for every poffin
you give it--it needs a limit, doesn't it? Sheen never goes down. When your
Pokémon's Sheen maxes out, it's full. Permanently. Unless you go MAD HAXXORS,
in which case, you don't need this at all.
4) Going along with Poffin-making and eating, winning Super Contests
(henceforth referred to as "SC") can, supposedly, also give you happiness. It
isn't confirmed completely, but it can't hurt (c'mon, you made your poffins,
now put 'em to use!) And honestly, the Normal Ranks of every SC is a breeze,
with or without poffins. Do this if you have time.
Note: A breakthrough! Evan confirms SC's effects on happiness:
"I has somehow bumbled the first try at SC with Togepi and it still had 1
heart. I entered a second time and dominated the whole contest. My point; I
checked Togepi again and it had 2 hearts after it had won (it was also
holding the Soothe Bell, mind you)."
5) There is a lady in Veilstone City residing in a house right below (again,
birds-eye view) the Gym there. Once a day, she'll give a Pokémon of your
choice a massage. I'll repeat this: once per day. This acts as Daisy's
grooming from Gold, Silver, and Crystal. It raises the Pokémon's happiness
quite a bit, and also nets you a great little accessory for your Pokémon in
photo-shooting in Jubilife, or SC.
Note: There's a resort area near the Battle Tower, where you can enter only if
you have 11 ribbons on one Pokémon. Apparently there's a massage parlor in
there, as well, but I have yet to check this for myself (eleven ribbons is ten
too many for me =P.) Thanks to ABZB for telling me this.
Renote: Kylie verifies that it is TEN ribbons to get in, not eleven.
Also: At Sunyshore City, there is a woman named Julia in a house at the
rightmost corner. Every day, she will give you a ribbon for giving her a
pronoun for her story (ANYTHING will work.) Please note that only the Pokémon
first in your party will get the ribbon.
6) You've definitely heard of this before too: Vitamins. What are vitamins,
exactly? Simply put, they're very expensive and rare medicinal items that add
to the EVs of your Pokémon in certain sections by 10. You can give your
Pokémon up to 10 of each vitamin, and the order goes as follows: Protein
raises physical attack, Iron raises physical defense, Calcium raises special
attack, Zinc raises special defense, Carbos raises Speed, and HP Up, well, you
can guess. You can find them for 9800 each (pricey, but you can't say I didn't
warn you) on the second floor of the Veilstone Department Store, from the
middle woman. Giving them to your Pokémon both makes them extremely happy and
raises their stats like crazy, if you're EV-training. Anyway, if you've got
the money, vitamins are one of the many ways to go.
Edit: SuperBandit reminds me that you can buy vitamins at the Battle Tower for
1 BP each. This is a much better deal, seeing as the Battle Tower is easier
than the Elite Four and you can get three vitamins per seven floors.
7) There are a total of six special berries, one for each vitamin, come to be
known on the boards as "EV-Reducing Berries". Basically, these are
"anti-vitamins". Rather than add 10 EVs to your Pokémon, they instead decrease
10. Well, then, what's the point of them, you might ask? Beside the obvious
reallocating of EVs, these "anti-vitamins" also make your Pokemon as happy as
if it were given a vitamin instead! The berries are as follows, and compares
oppositely to each vitamin: Kelpsy Berry = Protein, Qualot Berry = Iron,
Hondew Berry = Calcium, Grepa Berry = Zinc, Tamato Berry = Carbos, and
Pomeg Berry = HP Up. These berries are so much cheaper to access, but keep in
mind to always leave one behind and plant it. That way, you can get more than
five berries for the price of one!
Edit: If your Pokémon is newly hatched/caught, it won't have any EVs. This way,
when you use one of these berries on it, its EVs can't lower. Thus, you can
give it all the berries you want and it won't lower anything! Great way to
raise happiness without losing anything.
8) Amity Square. This is the place that is above the SC Stadium (or whatever
you want to call it), and it's there for two reasons. Well, actually, three
reasons, but it only fulfills two: getting good items, and making your Pokémon
happy. It was probably also intentioned for you, the player, to be happy as
well, seeing as how Pokémon Yellow was such a success, but it doesn't work,
because you can only walk with "cute" Sinnoh Pokémon, few people actually use
those Pokémon, and, like the angry Youth in the right entrance of the Square,
you get pissed off, screaming "BIAS!". Nonetheless, some of those Pokémon are
capable of evolving by happiness (Happiny, Chansey, Slutbuni Jr.), and what
better way of making someone happy by taking them out of their ball? Take them
out there as long as you like--it really makes them happy fast, I guarantee
it.
Note: Hg reminds me that it takes 200 steps for a Pokémon to find an item on
the ground in Amity Square, so checking on them every now and then (or if
you're using the pedometer application) will net you a nice little berry or
accessory for SC's.
9) The ninth and final way of raising happiness that I know of and can remember
is my favorite. Well, actually, it's more of a suggestion, but it works
amazingly. Simply put, take your Pokémon, give it a Soothe Bell, ride up to
Route 206 (Cycling Road), get on the second column from the right, and let go
of the D-Pad. Whee! If you're clumsy, you'll crash into that stupid moving
cyclist, but that's okay. Keep your gear on 5 (the faster one) and bring
yourself up when you approach bottom. Rinse, lather, and repeat. If you wish,
Clear the pedometer (number 4 Pokétch application, default) and watch your
steps go up. Gauge the proper time for when you think your Pokémon is happy
enough (either note a certain step you should reach, or check its happiness
manually.) I guarantee, this is the way to level a Pokémon's happiness without
doing anything. All I did was hold the up button for around five seconds every
couple of seconds and talk on AIM.
This is also a great way to hatch eggs.
PS: The Soothe Bell isn't a requirement, but it makes the process twice as
fast, which is really worth it.
PPS: Many people tell me that a better path would be Solaceon Town and the two
routes above it; find the column that goes up the bike ramp up north, and the
path ends up longer than Cycling Road. The downside to this is that you have
to actually press up and down, but it's your choice. Plus, there's no annoying
biker, so whatever floats your boat.
PPPS: JeffM informs me of a better way:
"I took him to the ironworks and out him into the lead of my group. There is
one arrow tile in there that throws you up and you have to walk 13 steps
downward to get to it again. I put a clamp on the down button to make my guy
walk down over and over. I put the DS on a charger and I left it open all night
and I went to bed. In the morning I left the ironworks, gained Golbat one
level, and he evolved. It was easy and I slept REAL well last night, thank
you."
(5.) How to Effectively Lose Happiness
So, want to use Frustration like a crazed beast? Or maybe you just think your
Pokémon looks really ugly and hate it with a passion? Look no further. (But
seriously, if you hate the Pokémon, just don't use it.)
1) Kill it. I'm dead serious (no pun intended.) Let it faint, and walk around
or fight battles with the Pokémon dead. I'm sure it loses a lot of happiness
by fainting, so kill it near a Pokécenter, revive it (using the Pokécenter, no
items,) and kill it again. Its happiness will drop like a fly on crack.
3) At the top of Eterna City, you'll find the Herb Shop, which sells four
very bitter herbs, each of which decreases your Pokémon's happiness
increasingly. They are the Heal Powder, EnergyPowder, Energy Root, and Revival
Herb. Heal Powder decreases the least, while Revival Herb decreases the most
(but comes at a whopping price of 2800!)
3) This isn't so much of a process of decreasing happiness as it is a method
of. Firstly, let your Pokémon die from poison (if it tends to survive
poisoning or has high HP, just kill it off.) Then get your Revival Herbs and
revive it. Take around ten-twenty of them, depending on how much your Pokémon
likes you now, and find an area where your Pokémon is liable to get owned,
while your other Pokémon can kill them easily (i.e. taking a Normal-type
Pokémon to an area with Fighting-Types and bringing a Drifloon/Drifblim
along--Ghost/Flying kicks Fighting so hard.) The rest should be easy: when it
has low HP, probably from the low health that the herb gives you back, let it
die, then heal it back when you change to your other Pokémon, send out your
Pokémon again, rinse, and repeat.
4) If you have a Pokémon that's really friendly with you, and someone you
trust, simply trade it over and trade it back. It'll start over at ~70
happiness points. Then use the above procedure and it'll be at 0 in no time,
and Frustration will work like a stick of dynamite in the first little piggy's
house.
Note: I have no idea where everyone is coming up with the idea that trading a
Pokémon lowers its happiness. It can lower, raise or do nothing at all.
Trading a Pokémon only RESETS its happiness.
(6.) Items that Affect Happiness
Listed below are the various items in the world of Pokémon that affect
happiness, both positively and negatively. A "p" attached to the end of it
means that it raises happiness, whilst an "n" shows that it is affected
negatively.
Hold Items:
- Soothe Bell p*
Medicinal Items:
- Fresh Water p
- Soda Pop p
- Lemonade p
- Moo Moo Milk p
- Heal Powder n
- EnergyPowder n
- Energy Root n
- Revival Herb n
- Protein p
- Iron p
- Calcium p
- Zinc p
- Carbos p
- HP Up p
Pokeballs:
- Luxury Ball**
Berries:
- Kelpsy Berry p
- Qualot Berry p
- Hondew Berry p
- Grepa Berry p
- Tamato Berry p
- Pomeg Berry p
* The Soothe Bell doubles the happiness gained from each happiness-gaining
step you take. You'll find it in the Pokémon Mansion, on Route 212, right
below Hearthome City. A maid in the second room from the right on the left
side will give it to you.
** From what I understand, catching a Pokémon in a Luxury Ball makes it so that
it takes less steps for a Pokémon to gain a happiness point. However, the
numbers are currently completely undefined.
(7.) Myths of Happiness
Everything from Pokémon legend and lore that are proven myths. Well, okay,
just the fantasies of happiness, but still.
Extreme thanks to www.psypokes.com for this list. If it weren't for them, well,
I'd be short a section.
(link: http:// www.psypokes . com/ lab/ happiness . php ) Without spaces or
parenthesis.
1) Letting your Pokémon fall ill to a status effect walking with it does not
lower happiness. I apologize, I believed this one and had this on my FAQ for a
while, which is why this is first and foremost.
2) Also on a similar note, letting your Pokémon get to critical health. That
wouldn't be fair.
3) Healing a Pokémon (except the drinks/herbs listed above.)
4) Using a Pokémon in battles/winning battles (unless it levels up.)
5) Giving a Pokémon a hold item other than the Soothe Bell.
6) Putting a Pokémon in the PC. Similar to Pokérus, the PC sorta freezes time
for the Pokémon. Nothing changes at all in there.
(8.) Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Someone told me they evolved their _______ with only two small hearts! I
have two small hearts! Why isn't my Pokémon evolving?
A: There's an important thing you absolutely must know about happiness. It's
not determined simply by hearts, or what the people who measure it say. It
would be too easy if it were. No, happiness is decided by numbers. Basically,
the scale is somewhat like this: leveling up gives the Pokémon around 3-5
points; every 256 steps you take gives it 1, with the Soothe Bell, 2; when it
dies, it loses about 20; etc. Most Pokémon start off at 50-70 points (when it
hatches, is caught, or is traded.) I'm pretty sure it needs around 220 to
evolve, and 250 or so is the cap. This is why sometimes two small hearts can
have your Pokémon evolve, and sometimes it doesn't. It's all about the
numbers. (Note that the exact numbers are indefinite as of now.)
Q: What is this Pokétch Application you speak of?
A: I'm speaking of the Happiness Counter, Application no. 6. Basically, it
shows your Pokémon (in your party) floating around in your Pokétch. If you tap
on a Pokémon, it'll stay under your stylus (or finger) and if it likes you,
you'll see a heart appear. If it really likes you, you'll see a heart, then
another heart. If it loves you, which is generally the wanted result in this
FAQ, you'll see the two hearts, then they'll pop up, and super-size. You'll
get it from a woman in the Eterna City Pokécenter.
Q: Who are the people that can read my Pokémon's happiness?
A: There are two: a lady in Hearthome City, and one in Route 213, near
Pastoria City in a house along the beach. The one in Hearthome City is in the
Pokémon Fan Club you'll find in the middle of the city, and will be able to
tell how your Pokémon feels about you by simply looking at you; the one on the
beach will tell you how your Pokémon feels about you by reading its
footprints. Each of them have two different ways of telling you how it feels
about you. In essence, the happiest a Pokémon can be is when the Pokémon Fan
Club lady tells you she "feels like she's intruding", and the footprint reader
gives you a ribbon. When your Pokémon hates your guts, it should be easy
enough to tell from either one's comment.
Q: I'm POSITIVE that my Pokémon is as happy as can be! It has two big hearts,
has the footprint ribbon, and the Fan Club lady says she feels like she's
intruding! Why won't it evolve!?!??!?!?!ONEONE!?!?EXCLAMATIONMARK!?!
A: Another important thing you should know is that even when your Pokémon is
happy, it won't evolve. Why, you ask? IT NEEDS TO LEVEL UP. They can't have
the Pokémon evolve when you aren't ready--think of how much harder it'd be to
get Espeon and Umbreon when you want a certain one! (Okay, not too much
harder, but still.)
Q: My Pokémon had max happiness, and then I put it in the daycare to evolve
it! When I got it back, it had gained x levels, didn't evolve, and only has
two small hearts now! What happened?
A: If you didn't know, you can't evolve a Pokémon through daycare. Even if you
could, I'm pretty sure the daycare takes away almost as much as trading it,
if not the same. Don't be lazy with happiness, or else happiness will be lazy
with you.
Q: I recently traded my Pokémon to start a new game. If I trade it back, how
long will it take to regain its happiness? And how much happiness until it
starts listening to me?
A: OKAY. I'm getting annoyed by this question. I didn't think I'd actually have
to answer it here. #1. Trading a Pokémon back immediately doesn't lower its
happiness a second time. It RESETS happiness back to 70. Or zero, depending on
the Pokémon, or 140 (Happiny, Chansey, Blissey.) #2. Don't ask me how long it
will take to gain happiness, because I don't know how much you want, the
Pokémon, or what you can do in short amounts of time. #3. This question, for
sure, is the bomb. What I'm asking is, how can anyone who plays Pokémon not
know what badges are for? Loyalty is not affected by happiness. At all. It
depends on how many badges you have. If you have a traded Pokémon and you're
missing a few badges, depending on its level it might not listen to you. No
happiness involved. Capisce?
Q: How many steps does it take for a Pokémon to reach max happiness?
A: The exact number depends on your Pokémon and what you've done with it in
the past. Assuming it's a new Pokémon (~70,) it should take... ~45,000 steps
or so (without Soothe Bell or Luxury Ball.)
Q: What is the Luxury Ball, and what does it do?
A: The Luxury Ball is a Pokéball bought in Sunyshore City or the Elite Four
castle. Supposedly, it acts sort of like a permanent Soothe Bell--it either
decreases the amount of steps needed to gain a point (or two) in happiness, or
adds to how many points you get from every 256 steps as well, although its
exact purpose is unknown. Whatever it does, however, if you want to quickly
gain happiness, the Luxury Ball is the way to catch that Pokémon. And it makes
sense, since if your Pokémon likes being in the ball, then it should be happier
the longer it spends in there, right? So, with the Soothe Bell, I'm guessing
you could probably get x3-4 happiness at the price of one!
Q: You mention these all the time. WHAT ARE EV's???
A: EVs stand for Effort Values. They're a bonus you get from choosing which
Pokémon you fight. You can learn more about them here:
http://www.gamefaqs.com/portable/ds/file/925601/45193
(9.) Version History
Version 0.80 6/14/07
Added trading problems.
'Splained loyalty.
Added Myths of Happiness section.
Version 0.75 5/19/07
Bombarded with emails.
Made corrections, added side-blurbs about what the emails told me.
Version 0.70 5/7/07
Fixed various errors.
Added Moo Moo Milk correction.
Added Resort Area.
Happiness originated in GSC, not RSE.
Added steps question.
Version 0.50 5/2/2007
Added ways to decrease and small tidbits.
Began to clean up and finish.
Version 0.24 5/1/2007
Decided to write a guide to Pokémon happiness.
Posted methods of raising happiness 1-8.
Slapped it onto Word and began converting it into a full-fledged FAQ.
Added EV-Reducing Berries into the mixture.
(10.) Contact
I'm done with this FAQ. I have no more time to respond to questions or fix this.
Thanks for all your input and suggestions, but everything this FAQ needed has
been answered. If you still have any questions, check out the message boards--I
daresay there's still one or two veterans there that can answer them.
(11.) Legal
This FAQ is available on GameFAQs, Neoseeker, and Pokedream. If it is found
anywhere else, it does not belong there.
Credit goes to:
Myself, for having (or rather, the lack of) a life to do this.
sp00nman, for helping me out on the unfamiliar territory that is the
Submission Form and Notepad.
Kylie, for giving me the correct amount of ribbons needed to enter the Resort.
Evan, for confirming that SCs do indeed raise happiness.
Hg, for reminding me about items found in Amity Square.
JeffM, for telling me the Fuego Ironworks "overnight" way.
rpgmaniac10145 for recommending me of www.psypokes.com.
www.psypokes.com for having the happiness scale and everything else to make my
life easier.
Serebii.net for the different EV-Reducing berries and information on them.
Marriland's FAQs, because without them I'd totally have no structure in this
FAQ at all.
The constant happiness questions on the boards, for without them I wouldn't
have been driven to such exhaustion to explaining why their Pokémon were not
evolving.
The others on the boards, who helped me out with this FAQ, correcting all the
errors I made.
CJayC, for making GameFAQs, the number one gaming site out there.
Lastly, Game Freak and Nintendo, for making such an awesome game.